The Parting of Elrond and Arwen
by EbullientBelle
Summary: "None saw her last meeting with Elrond her father, for they went up into the hills and there spoke long together, and bitter was their parting that should endure beyond the ends of the world." - RotK "Many Partings"


Arwen Undómiel, newly crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor, and her father Elrond walked arm in arm as they ascended the ever-climbing, verdurous foothills at the base of the White Mountains behind Edoras. A fragrant, westerly wind sifted through the sea of grass around them, causing it to bend and sway. The fair lady's cascading locks danced upon the wings of that very same breeze as its whispers traveled through the air. The tears that stung and welled in her eyes could not blame the wind, for their cause came from deep within. A heavy sense of foreboding weighed down upon her delicate shoulders; she had long known the inevitability of this moment, but never had she been prepared to address its bitter finality.

The time had come to bid her father farewell.

Ephemeral conversations came and went, and painted smiles with their carefully executed facades proved futile as the pair neared their final moments shared together. Shadows of worry veiled Arwen's countenance as her rhythm slowed and then ceased altogether, hesitantly denying any further prolongation of this moment's inexorability. "Ada." Her voice, while remaining true to character with its soft timbre, cut through the silence and reeled her father's attention back from the depths of his innermost musings. It had taken some time for her eyes to meet his, for he too had stopped to angle his frame towards her as he provided his undivided attention. He did not speak - and he did not breathe.

Arwen struggled with the innate drive as well as her words hung from the tip of her tongue, only to spill their ghostly remnants from her lips like venom prior to coiling themselves about her heart like an unforgiving serpent, constricting it as if it were made of a malleable clay. The murmurs of her vow whispered in her ear, reminding her how much it had seemed like a nightmare now. As her eyes met her father's in a somber greeting, she began to question her ability to part from him, thus forever cleaving one from the other's company. Though she knew that if she were to sail to Valinor and leave behind the eastern shore, the ardent love she felt for her husband would remain evergreen. The absence of him would mean the absence of herself, for her chest would be eternally vacant. Her heart would stay with him, and she would be left with nothing but her beloved's mere memory - to which she'd cling until the end of time.

Her shoulders fell as the weight of her faltering facade crushed her delicate frame, bringing forth the evidence of a broken heart as tears welled in her eyes once more. She stood before her father - the man she had adored for over two thousand years - at a loss for words as they fell from her glistening pools of gray to trace icy rivulets down her rubescent cheeks. In a forlorn attempt to find her strength, she bore her pain with silent grace. It was in that moment that Arwen accepted the heartbreaking truth: neither decision would bring relief. Each path would be fraught with grief.

The eyes of her father mirrored her own, for they were also brimming with agony past the point of toleration. He had already lost one in this way, long ago, and now she brought forth the time for him to lose another. Just as she was ready to extend a soothing hand, he raised each of his and pressed his palms to either side of her face to brush away her tears with gentle sweeps of his thumbs. After casting a glance to the high skies in a futile attempt to cease further overflow of her heartache, she stilled her father's hands so that she could rest the heavy weight of her head in his unwavering hold. Less than a beat later, he had leaned in to press a soft kiss upon her forehead and she struggled to regain control once more.

"How I've wished this moment could be stilled." He whispered in low, pained tones through the flat lines of his lips. "Alas, the evening draws nearer to veil this view ever from my eyes." His gaze traveled along the soft features of her ethereal countenance, storing each curve of her face in his memory. "Is there nothing that a father can do or say to keep his daughter near? I wish not to know the suffering you may face if the years turn bitter and short when they at last run their course."

"They may run short, but sweet they will seem to me." Arwen replied the moment she found her voice. "There is no other choice now, not one that I can see, but to stay with my love and let what may come of my years be." She had to find her breath again, for her last inhalation caught in her throat. "I will stay, ada." The end was far too near. "I will stay, and I will bear a son. And I will live my years until the light is drained from my eyes."

With a heavy heart, Elrond bowed his head. Though long he dreaded the parting that stood before him, he could not condemn his daughter or the man for whom she sacrificed her immortality. He knew much of love and how it could not be turned. As he pulled his daughter into his embrace for the final time, he murmured, "My daughter, my heart, may your days be filled with joy - your life stretched long and free from fear. May you guide your people with a steadfast heart, and may you hold the memory of your father ever near."

In a manner much the same, Arwen replied "I will forever cherish your memory. I will never forget the love you have given me - the guidance you've provided me. How I've wished that this choice between he and thee would never come to be!" She could not suppress her emotions now as they drowned her in violent waves. "My destiny has been set, and I cannot delay it any longer."

"Then let us bid farewell while light remains in the skies above. The evening's chill grows colder in the air, and your husband is surely awaiting your return." He added as he released her from his hold. Not only had he parted from his daughter, but from a piece of himself as well. It would remain with her until she parted from this world and would then be left to wander these lands alone with nothing but her memory. "Go now."

The unadulterated pain in his eyes could not be masked, and it broke her heart to know that her choice had been the cause of such. "In hopes that we may meet again…" she whispered as crystal tears continued to weep from her eyes. She leaned in to press a tender kiss on her father's cheek before she began her slow retreat.

"_Amin mela lle_, my darling heart." She could not see his tears, for he had cast his gaze downward, but she could hear the wavering in his voice. Arwen returned his love's proclamation between sobs as she veered on her heels and permitted her rhythm to carry her forward in a hastened manner. Overcome with agony and despair, she traipsed along the verdurous path they climbed earlier in search of her husband's comforting embrace.

She could not turn back to cast her gaze behind her in fear of what she may see - a grief-stricken father, surely, it would be. Her light footfalls carried her along as she distanced herself from his company. In an attempt to regain her composure, she ceased her retreat to stand upon a nearby knoll, remaining as still as the trees around her as she endured the silence in solitude and bowed her head. The tears that streamed down her face watered the grass below with a bitter salt. Long she remained there with nothing but her thoughts. It was only when the setting sun had at last left the heavens that she rose from her anguish and continued her path toward Edoras. As she neared her destination, she turned one final time to face the mountains from which she came and cried aloud, "_Namaarie_, my beloved father."

"_Namaarie_."


End file.
